InterVil
The Intervillage Association of Police (commonly referred to as "InterVil") was established in LY 899, as one of the key components of the Coming of the Order. Until that time, crime on The Land had been fairly limited in scope, and rarely transcended specific jurisdictions. So, there had been little interaction between various villages' police departments. However, in that year, gang activity began steadily increasing, and two intervillage gangs (LandOrder and InterGang) were established. So, greater cooperation between police departments became necessary. A commission was established in First Village, consisting of a staff of 19 liaisons (one for each village; a 20th liaison was added for Woodstockade in 903) and one Commissioner. The chief of each village's police department would select one of his or her own officers to send to First Village, while the Commissioner was chosen by a vote among all police chiefs. InterVil's first Comissioner of Police was Colin (who took the surname "Provisi" after the surname law was enacted in 904). However, the position of Commissioner would be elected by the people of the Land, starting with the first worldwide elections in 904, to serve a five year term. At that time, Mufasa Gothic was elected, beginning his first term in 905. He was reelected in 909. InterVil's staff continues to consist also of one liaison selected by each village's chief of police from among their own department. As of 913, there are 22 villages represented in InterVil. InterVil has always occupied a somewhat unique legal position; while most people think of them as a branch of the Second Order, that has never technically been the case. All the Land's police must enforce the laws enacted by the government; however, they do not answer directly to the government, in spite of close cooperation with the judicial branch. The High Court is a different matter; it is a branch of the government, and it does have legal influence over the local courts of each village under the rule of the Second Order. Local courts, meanwhile, work directly with local police departments, which makes the independent nature of the police... complicated. It became even moreso after the Secession Referendum of 913, when Tanq, Jump Village, and Plist officially joined Triscot in forming a new country, the United Villages of the Chaos (which also included South Port, founded earlier that year by settlers from Triscot; and Freeport, founded mostly by settlers from Woodstockade). InterVil includes liaisons from police departments of the UVC, and therefore the independence of the police is emphasized... It is not a part of the Second Order or the UVC. However, it also is influenced by the separate court systems of both countries. At the same time that the UVC was founded, Sorret became a sovereign village, and since then has officially withdrawn from InterVil, though it continues to recognize the organization's authority, to an extent. Any interaction between InterVil and Sorret's police has since that time been conducted by the Minister of the Interior. Another common misconception about InterVil is that it must be a large organization, or that it includes all of the Land's police. But rather, InterVil is technically independent of the general police departments, in spite of their close interaction. It is true that InterVil liaisons (or "agents") have the authority to call on the assistance of any village's police department, however, under normal circumstances, agents don't have authority to give orders to local police chiefs, who technically rank higher than InterVil agents. Only the Commissioner can give direct orders to a chief, and even the Commissioner can be overruled by a majority vote of all police chiefs. So, the true purpose of InterVil is not governing the police, but rather coordinating efforts in any matters where questions of intervillage jurisdictions may arise. This necessitates only a very small staff; aside from the Commissioner and liaisons, each member also has a full-time personal assistant. Agents can also temporarily deputize police into InterVil, though this is rarely done because of the paperwork involved, and complicated questions of whether this means their chief loses direct authority over them. It is simpler for an agent to ask a chief to lend him or her however many people may be required, without officially transferring direct command of those people to the agent. List of liaisons First Village: ? Tonad: ? Ship: ? Kurok: ? Frinn: ? Toobay: ? Olek: ? Pritt: ? Shipsister: ? Jump Village: ? Tanq: (formerly Callum Monogwrangle) Monab: ? Plist: ? Triscot: Willow Bridgebuilder Woodstockade: ? Ristar: ? Kimrin: ? Port: ? Near Port: ? Barbequeue: ? South Port: ? Freeport: ? See also *Coast Guard *police departments *The Syndicate Category:Groups